NCR Soldier Cosplay

[McCrackinator]

Hi all! I'm a longtime fan of the forum, I've used RPF for inspiration in a bunch of past projects but only just recently made an account so I can share my newest project!
In my own classic fashion, and I'm sure I'm not alone, I have waited till the last minute to throw together a fully weathered and built NCR Soldier Cosplay for Halloween and future events (almost) from scratch! As my own skills with a sewing machine are nearly non existent and I'd rather get it right the first time I've elected to buy a few things to weather from other makers, bought cheap but *close enough* clothes from Amazon for the uniform, and will be possibly trying my hand at airbrushing wool depending on how everything else goes.
I will post updates with pictures as things come in, as well as crediting the other makers helping me from Etsy, starting Monday 9/23/24, and hopefully with some luck and elbow grease I can pull this off!

 

[TymanRoach]

Welcome to the RPF, Good luck with the project.

 

[greenmachines]

Hi all! I'm a longtime fan of the forum, I've used RPF for inspiration in a bunch of past projects but only just recently made an account so I can share my newest project!
In my own classic fashion, and I'm sure I'm not alone, I have waited till the last minute to throw together a fully weathered and built NCR Soldier Cosplay for Halloween and future events (almost) from scratch! As my own skills with a sewing machine are nearly non existent and I'd rather get it right the first time I've elected to buy a few things to weather from other makers, bought cheap but *close enough* clothes from Amazon for the uniform, and will be possibly trying my hand at airbrushing wool depending on how everything else goes.
I will post updates with pictures as things come in, as well as crediting the other makers helping me from Etsy, starting Monday 9/23/24, and hopefully with some luck and elbow grease I can pull this off!

Will be following. Giddyup

 

[MojaveTrooper]

Good luck my man. Interested to see the results

 

[McCrackinator]

Alright alright alright, I am very late as far as getting this show on the road is concerned BUT I have goodies, I've gotten started, and there are photos and hyperlinks a-plenty! First up:

The Shirt--- Amazon.com

This is pretty darn close to what I need to start with, the plan at this point was to buy it, see if the color matched, and go from there.

This is what I received, it's just about as close as picture accurate gets without a good pressing. The color isn't quite right for the cosplay itself but I can make due. I'll have to remove the top pockets so they aren't sneaking out the sides of the chest plate, as well as removing some color and replacing it with a more coyote brown tint.

Next, the Pants--- Amazon.com

Same idea as the shirt, and even though the in game troopers don't have side pockets I like the look of these more than anything else I was able to find for cheap-ish pants.

The product received was good, fit well, and was all around comfortable. Which didn't seem like much of a concern at first but I do feel like there's a lot to be said about comfortability in any cosplay after some thought. Will color change these with the shirt.

Third, the Neck Wrap--- Amazon.com

This one was a bit tougher to figure out, cus in-game either it's a full blown face covering *or* a little collar cover that's snuck underneath the chest-plate. Not to mention, deciding between buying some fabric or this amazon face shield was hard. I ended up just buying it for time's sake, we'll see how it goes.

It's actually much larger fully unwrapped, but also a bit harder to photograph.

I'm actually kinda proud of myself for being able to get these as close to a "same starting color" as I did. Today I used "RIT Color Remover" on them in the washing machine, the pants went to be about the same color as the wrap before the wash, the shirt didn't change much at all, and the wrap turned much lighter than the other two.

Will follow up soon with dye results!

 

[MojaveTrooper]

Awesome progress

 

[greenmachines]

Alright alright alright, I am very late as far as getting this show on the road is concerned BUT I have goodies, I've gotten started, and there are photos and hyperlinks a-plenty! First up:

The Shirt--- Amazon.com

View attachment 1867644
This is pretty darn close to what I need to start with, the plan at this point was to buy it, see if the color matched, and go from there.

View attachment 1867645
This is what I received, it's just about as close as picture accurate gets without a good pressing. The color isn't quite right for the cosplay itself but I can make due. I'll have to remove the top pockets so they aren't sneaking out the sides of the chest plate, as well as removing some color and replacing it with a more coyote brown tint.

Next, the Pants--- Amazon.com
View attachment 1867647
Same idea as the shirt, and even though the in game troopers don't have side pockets I like the look of these more than anything else I was able to find for cheap-ish pants.
View attachment 1867646
The product received was good, fit well, and was all around comfortable. Which didn't seem like much of a concern at first but I do feel like there's a lot to be said about comfortability in any cosplay after some thought. Will color change these with the shirt.

Third, the Neck Wrap--- Amazon.com
View attachment 1867648
This one was a bit tougher to figure out, cus in-game either it's a full blown face covering *or* a little collar cover that's snuck underneath the chest-plate. Not to mention, deciding between buying some fabric or this amazon face shield was hard. I ended up just buying it for time's sake, we'll see how it goes.
View attachment 1867649
It's actually much larger fully unwrapped, but also a bit harder to photograph.

View attachment 1867650
I'm actually kinda proud of myself for being able to get these as close to a "same starting color" as I did. Today I used "RIT Color Remover" on them in the washing machine, the pants went to be about the same color as the wrap before the wash, the shirt didn't change much at all, and the wrap turned much lighter than the other two.

Will follow up soon with dye results!

Great start!!

Kudos on the rit remover. Most fail on this first step because the original materials not only have colorant but sealant, conditioner, starching, antimicrobial, antifungal. All soaked in from the factory and all will affect dye.

Short hazard warning on the pocket removal.

1 Try to avoid seam rippers as they often do rip your valuable item. If you need to pull threads, try to do so from the back (inside of shirt) or absolute front (on the pocket instead of under). This takes a lot longer but you don't knife your shirt on the visible front side.

2) BIG IF - if you are removing pockets, do it NOW. You might want to remove the pockets and go with another run of rit remover if the pocket outline is obvious. Using remover or dye while the pocket exists will leave a pocket outline similar to how tie-dye works.

The actual dye process is your opportunity for "close match" vs bang-on. Most of my projects look far better with a bad dye job. Let that soak into the brain. Some costumes get a jumpstart on weathering and aging by having a poor dye job from the start. When the character looks prissy and new, primped and posed, you just "toy boxed" your cosplay. New, in the box, from hasbro, shiny figure without the expected "AUTHENTIC BATTLE DAMAGE". This opportunity, at this stage is three-way.

1 You could opt for perfect, if your image of the character is perfect.

2 You could choose to not fix whatever unintentional folds or pooling come out of the dye process WITHOUT you trying to make it not perfect. This is usually my route. You will only know from pictures of it being worn. Looking at it flat will do nothing for getting how it presents in full costume.

3 You could put your still-wet-with-dye uniform on a stuffed cloth dummy (think rag doll scarecrow) and put in the elbow and shoulder bunching in advance. This will put slight shadowing on the natural folds or at least it does on my stuff.

I mannequinned a few items that were meant to have sun fading and wear bleaching, like, at lower wrist posture (hanging arms) and then continued to water the wrists to remove a lot of the gravity feed dye that was coming from the top down. Please note: these were SEVERELY weathered and aged for DiCaprio's Hugh Glass Revenant. You can also "batik" areas to keep the dye from soaking in to get an intentional two tone damage or pattern. This works gloriously for pre-aging elbows and knees of excessive wear zones. You can always lightly dye these areas darker later if you wish. But, again, only if it is needed for your vision of the build.

You get a whole extra shot at all this when you get to corrections/weathering/aging (after the full build exists) so it isn't a panic now BUT that pocket removal IS.

I usually just follow the instructions from rit and leave the problems that arise, if they fully match my intended look.

 

[McCrackinator]

Great start!!

Kudos on the rit remover. Most fail on this first step because the original materials not only have colorant but sealant, conditioner, starching, antimicrobial, antifungal. All soaked in from the factory and all will affect dye.

Short hazard warning on the pocket removal.

1 Try to avoid seam rippers as they often do rip your valuable item. If you need to pull threads, try to do so from the back (inside of shirt) or absolute front (on the pocket instead of under). This takes a lot longer but you don't knife your shirt on the visible front side.

2) BIG IF - if you are removing pockets, do it NOW. You might want to remove the pockets and go with another run of rit remover if the pocket outline is obvious. Using remover or dye while the pocket exists will leave a pocket outline similar to how tie-dye works.

The actual dye process is your opportunity for "close match" vs bang-on. Most of my projects look far better with a bad dye job. Let that soak into the brain. Some costumes get a jumpstart on weathering and aging by having a poor dye job from the start. When the character looks prissy and new, primped and posed, you just "toy boxed" your cosplay. New, in the box, from hasbro, shiny figure without the expected "AUTHENTIC BATTLE DAMAGE". This opportunity, at this stage is three-way.

1 You could opt for perfect, if your image of the character is perfect.

2 You could choose to not fix whatever unintentional folds or pooling come out of the dye process WITHOUT you trying to make it not perfect. This is usually my route. You will only know from pictures of it being worn. Looking at it flat will do nothing for getting how it presents in full costume.

3 You could put your still-wet-with-dye uniform on a stuffed cloth dummy (think rag doll scarecrow) and put in the elbow and shoulder bunching in advance. This will put slight shadowing on the natural folds or at least it does on my stuff.

I mannequinned a few items that were meant to have sun fading and wear bleaching, like, at lower wrist posture (hanging arms) and then continued to water the wrists to remove a lot of the gravity feed dye that was coming from the top down. Please note: these were SEVERELY weathered and aged for DiCaprio's Hugh Glass Revenant. You can also "batik" areas to keep the dye from soaking in to get an intentional two tone damage or pattern. This works gloriously for pre-aging elbows and knees of excessive wear zones. You can always lightly dye these areas darker later if you wish. But, again, only if it is needed for your vision of the build.

You get a whole extra shot at all this when you get to corrections/weathering/aging (after the full build exists) so it isn't a panic now BUT that pocket removal IS.

I usually just follow the instructions from rit and leave the problems that arise, if they fully match my intended look.

You are so spot on with all of this XD I don't have pictures yet but to put it nicely let's say the dying process did not go as planned. Live and learn, this is a quick and dirty Halloween costume so it'll work for the moment, but I am certainly going to use all my newfound knowledge to do it properly once I've completed this one and take another hack at it

 

[McCrackinator]

You are so spot on with all of this XD I don't have pictures yet but to put it nicely let's say the dying process did not go as planned. Live and learn, this is a quick and dirty Halloween costume so it'll work for the moment, but I am certainly going to use all my newfound knowledge to do it properly once I've completed this one and take another hack at it

Also thankfully the products are all just about 95%+ cotton so they aren't too far off from each other color-wise

 

[greenmachines]

Well, we are here in triumph or failure. You can count on us to ra-ra you to victory or

mock your failure openly so you try harder next time.....hahahhahahaha...... but mostly for your benefit of course

admittedly, we just love new projects so keep it up